How is it discrimination because they won't read his query letters? It's just a policy. I've been told the same thing by CAA and Universal but I'm not going to sue over them not reading my work. This is the type of stuff that makes it harder for writer trying to break in. This is like the whole "McDonalds made me obese because I chose to eat there everyday" thing. Come on.

Obviously he'll only win if it can be proven that non-whites and women are discriminated against. Good luck with that.

I think there's an interesting point he's making. The problem is a lot of industries have threshold guardians to success. You can't be a lawyer without going to law school.

I think he'd have to show evidence that the top agencies are the only way to get into screenwriting, and that's just not true. He'd also have to show that those agencies accept material from white male writers only, and that again isn't true.

Sure, there is a lack of diversity in the business, but that's not the fault of the agencies.

And of course there's the simple fact that the writer in question just might not be good. You can't sue top art galleries because they don't like your work.

I fear he's tarnishing his name and ruining any chance someone might take on him.

I've had the exact same experience with the NBA! I've been trying for years to get drafted but no deal. It must be because I'm non-black and don't know anyone in sports. It can't have anything to do with the fact that I'm way too short and have no talent whatsoever as a basketball player. I'm suing!

To quote Terry Rossio:

Some people say that success in Hollywood is determined solely by the quality of your work. Others maintain, "It all depends on who you know." The truth is, it's the quality of your work that determines who you get to know.

race is an American obsession; nobody talks about it until someone talks about it, then everyone talks about it.
whether or not his charge has any merit is irrelevant, because the ever-evolving American racism is still defined by an at least 40-year old definition. and just by his way of going about it makes me believe that he might be thinking of racism in the same ol' dated way as well. as a result it becomes a lazy charge propped up by an indifferent press, with headline created solely to boost everyone's preconceived notion of whether or not Hollywood's racist.

Really clever or really dumb.

Maybe the difference is a razor edge anyway.

And another thing, there's nothing that pisses me off more than people's sense of entitlement, and this lawsuit reeks of it. Nobody owes you anything, buddy. You just have to join the rat race like the rest of us.

Waiting until he sells the film rights to this story.

But if he wins, he'll never have to write again. He'll be one of the richest screenwriters around, without having to ever touch a keyboard. A scam we should all emulate?

There are lawsuits all the time in Hollywood involving 'screenwriters.' They are called 'nuisance suits, basically an allegation on the part of someone who claims a studio / producer / talent appropriated their story into the production of a movie. This is why nobody - technically - will read a script without a waiver that releases them from any such claim. Nevertheless the suits still come.

I remember hearing once that Spielberg has been sued for almost every movie he's made just because he's that big and people go after big money.

Of course just because you have an idea that turns up in a movie doesn't mean it was your idea they used. Years ago I came up with an idea called "Mother-In-Law," a comedy about the mother-in-law from hell. Some years later "Monster-In-Law" comes out. I even had a meeting with the woman who ended up writing the script (she was an exec with John Davis' prod co at the time). I never once mentioned my idea. Perhaps she absorbed it by osmosis, who knows. But I chalked that up to me being too lazy to do what I should have done: Write the damn thing on spec and get it out there. Never occurred to me to bring a lawsuit because clearly my idea had nothing to do with the development of that project.

As implied here in this thread, if you do decide to sue a movie studio, you can pretty much write off any chance of you having a screenwriting career in Hollywood. Why would any studio want to hire someone who sues them?

Having said that, if you then wrote a best selling novel or a killer spec script, I'm sure they'd crawl all over themselves to kiss your ass. But it would have to be an awfully compelling project for them to overlook your egregious behavior (at least as far as they're concerned.)

I wonder if he ever tried contests?

I will say this. If your a person of color or a woman (or both), I'm sure you will be treated differently a certain percentage of the time. What that percentage is no one can say. Sometimes people don't even know that their decisions are subliminally being swayed by race or sex or other factors.

But, as it was already pointed out, writing a good script should trump any but the most blatant affronts.

My question is, how would an agent even know he was a person of color? I mean, that's not something you include in a query letter. I'm new to the game, but I think I know that much. If he said he was getting meeting after meeting and none of them panned out, then he might have an argument. But even then I doubt it. Better to just put all that frustration into a good story.

Some other interesting bits from the original article:

'“Small production companies will respond positively to query letters,” says Samuels, “but these ‘no name’ companies include companies with little resources and no ability to make many films. Many go out of business in a short time.”'

Apparently Justin Samuels deserves to START his screenwriting career being represented by a major agency with massive resources and the ability to independently make films.

"my work has no chance of even being considered by a Hollywood talent agency, as I am not in the inner circle of the industry, whose support I would need for an industry referral."

I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

I haven't set foot in Hollywood in approximately 20 years.

I was considered by a Hollywood talent agency. Several, in fact, even some big ones.

I guess having a no-name manager without massive resources or the ability to independently make movies has some value after all...

"This is nepotism and racism at its worst."

Well, he's right there. His inability to attain representation from a major Hollywood agency clearly overshadows slavery and the Holocaust as one of the Great Grave Injustices of The World.

"Yes, I assume I’d succeed in screenwriting if not for the alleged discrimination..."

TOOL.

I hope he wins. It would be hilarious.